


The Bottom of the Hourglass

by Bamboozled_and_Alone



Series: Marvel/DC Crossovers [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Daredevil (Comics), Marvel (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Crossover, Dick Grayson-centric, Dimension/Universe travel, Especially poor Dick, Everyone Needs A Hug, I keep seeing Tim going to the Marvel universe and I raise you Dick in the Marvel universe, Slade Is An Asshole, more tags as this progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:14:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23897350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bamboozled_and_Alone/pseuds/Bamboozled_and_Alone
Summary: After a fight with Deathstroke, Nightwing finds himself stuck in an unknown world. He's on his own, but he's far from helpless. He'll figure out a way home. Eventually.In the meantime, he'll just have to wait it out in this new world. Dick's determined to make the most of it.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Everyone
Series: Marvel/DC Crossovers [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1802476
Comments: 44
Kudos: 401





	1. The Very Beginning

Dick winces as the bullet hits his shoulder, biting down a hiss of pain as he flips behind a shipping crate. Unfortunately, Deathstroke was relentless. Dick waits until the sound of gunfire has ceased before he dares to shoot back out. And then he wishes he hadn’t. 

There’s a flash of bright white, and suddenly both Dick and Slade are somewhere else entirely. Dick widens his eyes, stumbling a bit. Slade recovers much faster, not being affected by surprise the same way Dick was, and a knife quickly embeds itself in the younger vigilante’s thigh.

This time, Dick doesn’t manage to bite back a hiss of pain. 

Slade pushes Dick down to the gravel of a rooftop, putting a foot over his chest to ensure he wouldn’t be able to get back up. Dick fixes him with a sharp glare, knowing there was no use in trying to struggle free. Slade had him right where he wanted him.

There’s a smug smirk on the one-eyed man’s face as he leans over, pressing harder into Dick’s chest in victory. He pulls out a sword, pointing it at Dick’s throat with a steel gaze, toying with the idea of killing him. He seems to decide against it, though, as he puts his sword away. He gives a small hum, and then smashes something on the ground. 

“Better to let you suffer, I think,” Slade hums, stepping off of Dick, who looks from the device to Slade. 

“What was that? What did you just do?” Dick asks, very confused, but with a small feeling of dread. He has a feeling he might know what that was. He really hopes he’s wrong.

“You see, Pretty Bird, that device brought us to a whole different universe,” Slade shrugs, fixing Dick with a cruel look. “And it just so happened to be the  _ only _ way home.”

“But- but- you’ll be stuck here too!” Dick looks around, somewhat desperately. No Bruce, no Alfred, no Babs, no Jason, no Tim, no Damian, no Steph, no Duke, and no Cass. None of his old Teen Titans team either. Which, yes, he knew they weren’t going to be there, but he really wishes they were. Any one of them. Just  _ someone _ familiar. Particularly someone familiar who wasn’t Slade. 

Then Slade jumps off the building. Dick curses, getting back to his feet and limping over to the edge, but by the time he got there, Slade was already long gone.

“Damnit,” Dick huffs, sitting on the ledge with a wince. Blood slowly oozes out of the bullet wound on his shoulder, the dark red droplets barely visible against the black of his suit beneath them. 

It’s quiet way up here. The streets below are obviously bustling though, even though it’s got to be close to midnight. He can’t see the skyline well enough to determine which city this is, but it’s definitely a big one from the amount of lights he can see all around him. 

Dick shifts slightly, and the sharp pain that greets him reminds him that he was injured, and probably needed to take care of that before too long. 

With a heavy sigh, Dick gets back to his feet and grabs his grapple. He simply jumps over the edge, letting himself free fall for a moment before he actually fires it off, wincing at the strain it puts on his wounded shoulder. He ignores it. 

When Dick is forced to stop to reshoot the grapple, he pauses. Where was he even going? If what Slade had said was true (which Dick would definitely fact check later, but he couldn’t find any reason that it  _ wouldn’t _ be true) then Dick didn’t so much have access to a safehouse. He doubted he was going to find anywhere that he could stitch himself up without  _ someone _ asking questions down the line. Or rather, finding the  _ place _ wouldn’t be the hard part, but finding the supplies would definitely prove tricky if he wanted to avoid suspicion, especially since he still had the knife in his leg and-

“Get it together, Grayson,” Dick grits out through clenched teeth, still looking very much lost at where to go. Most people kept first aid kits in their apartments, didn’t they? Maybe he could just sneak in, grab the stuff and… 

He couldn’t do  _ that _ , either, because what if the person he’d steal it from ended up not realizing it’d been stolen until they really needed it? 

Damn his guilty, overly sized heart. 

Dick huffs, looking back over the city. He’d survived worse, this wouldn’t be too bad… right? The blood leaking from his shoulder disagrees with him, and Dick knows for a fact he can’t just leave the knife in his thigh forever. 

A very terrible idea pops into Dick’s head, but he figures it’s worth a shot. He finds a hospital, even though it had taken him a while. If Slade was right about this being a whole different universe… 

Dick pulls out the knife, clenching his teeth as he does so before he tosses it aside. Blood immediately begins trickling down his leg, but Dick needed to get the suit off quickly, and the easiest way to do that was to get rid of the knife. Once he’s stripped down to his Nightwing boxers, he stashes the suit and mask behind the dumpster and hopes that nobody will disturb it before he can get back to it. 

Stumbling towards the hospital, Dick plays the role of ‘hurt civilian’ as best he can. He’s slightly subconscious about the fact that he’s wearing nothing but the boxers, but he’d work with what he had. He gets into the entrance and then purposefully collapses on the ground. Or at least he tells himself that it was on purpose. The blood flowing from his leg was still running strong, and his vision had already started to get blurry and-

The world turns black fairly quickly, swishing away any previous feelings of embarrassment Dick might have had. 


	2. The Diner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick manages to meet someone at a diner.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The steady rhythm of the heart monitor is the first thing that Dick registers. It keeps its incessant beeping, even as Dick slowly wakes up. His head felt cloudy, along with the rest of his body. So they’d given him the  _ good  _ stuff. He gradually tries flexing his fingers, but he wasn’t quite sure if they were still there or not. Which meant he was going to be stuck here for at least long enough for the drugs they’d given him to wear off.

There’s some shuffling in the room, and Dick takes note of a nurse. She doesn’t seem to have noticed that he’s awake just yet, and he blinks at her a few times, her blurry form gradually becoming clearer. 

She was a young woman with honey blonde hair and glasses, and she looks down at her clipboard as she writes something down on it. After a minute, she notices his gaze, and startles slightly. “Oh, you’re awake!” 

Dick tries to nod, but his head starts swimming again, and he promptly passes right back out. 

-

The second time Dick wakes up again, he’s not quite so lucid. Sure, he’s a little groggy, but  _ this time _ when he tries to move his fingers, he can actually feel them following his commands. He lets out a small sigh of relief. After a few minutes, he finally peels his eyes open. This time he’s alone in the room, which he’s immensely grateful for. He swallows, then rips out the IV first. He sucks in a sharp breath before taking off the heart monitor, which beeps loudly. He only had a good thirty seconds maximum to get the window open and disappear, which he does.

He realizes that his hospital room was on the fifth floor midair. 

Oops. 

It’s a little late to turn back now. He flips a little bit, and it doesn’t help much, but it does slow him down a little. He tucks and rolls when he hits the ground, and manages to only gain a few scrapes from the cement in the process, which wasn’t too bad. He glances around, and a few people give him strange looks, which he couldn’t blame them for considering he was currently in a hospital gown.

The city looked much different in daylight. Dick doesn’t ogle it too much though, slipping into the same alley as last night. He slips out of the hospital gown and back into his Nightwing suit. It was still bloody, and with two holes in it, but it was definitely better than the hospital gown. He’d have to find some way to clean it up later. For now, he had more important things to figure out.

Number one on his priority list was making sure he could get food, water, and preferably some civvies. He has a small stash of emergency cash in his utility belt, but he wasn’t sure how long that would last. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to find out, but he couldn’t rely on that.

“C’mon, Dick, you can handle this,” He mutters under his breath, slinking around. He finds a thrift shop, eventually, and he walks in hoping nobody would ask any questions about the suit. Thankfully, that doesn’t happen, although the cashier does raise an eyebrow at the blood as Dick buys a shirt, pants, a new pair of underwear since the hospital still had his precious Nightwing boxers, a black hoodie, a plain baseball cap, sunglasses, and a nice backpack to top it all off and store his suit in. 

Dick pays for all the stuff, then goes to the rooftops to change. He hides the utility belt between his shirt and hoodie, then stuffs the rest of the suit in his backpack as he scours the city. Now that it was daylight, Dick could definitely tell what city it was.

New York.

Except Slade had also definitely been right. 

Though the city was clearly New York, there were a few buildings that were off. Most notably, Dick was  _ fairly _ certain that the Wayne Enterprises building should have been in a spot where a much shorter building now stood. And there were a few buildings dotted around that seemed unfamiliar to him too. 

Dick sucks in a breath, climbing back down to the ground again before he slips on the sunglasses and adjusts the backpack. Now he probably looked just like every tourist out there. Or at least enough like a normal person that nobody would question the fact that he had an ever so slight limp. 

Now he just had to figure out where to go from here. 

Dick  _ definitely _ doesn’t have enough cash for a hotel or an apartment. Well. He  _ did _ , but he’d much rather save the money. Just in case he was here for… a while. 

Passing by a small diner, Dick pauses. He thinks about it for a second before he turns back around and heads inside. He could use some time to think, and really, he was a little hungry. He hadn’t had anything to eat for a good number of hours. The place isn’t overly crowded, but it isn’t empty either, and Dick finds a seat quickly. It wasn’t necessarily the ideal place that the vigilante would have chosen, but he wasn’t going to complain about it either. A waitress brings over a menu, setting it down on the table, and Dick smiles and says thank you before he takes it and reads over it. 

Dick squints down at the words for a moment before someone clears their throat next to him. Dick turns, blinking in surprise at the man standing there. “Um… hi?”

“Hi,” The man gives him a slight smile. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m afraid I was going to be coming here with a friend, but he had to cancel, and… I was wondering if I could sit with you? I’m blind and can’t read the menu by myself.”

Dick blinks, processing that, before he nods slowly. “Sure…? Uh. The seat in front of me is empty. At your four o’ clock.” 

The man nods, sitting down. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Dick glances down at the menu again. “So… Anything in particular you wanted?”

“I don’t know. Anything good on the menu at all?” The man tilts his head slightly.

Dick looks over the menu. It takes a few minutes to help the blind man figure out what he wanted, and as if on cue, the waitress shows up at that exact moment. She blinks when she sees the man there suddenly, but she doesn’t question it as she pulls out a notepad and takes both of their orders. As soon as she’s gone, the blind man sticks out his hand. 

“Matthew Murdock,” He introduces himself. “Or just Matt.”

“Matt,” He debates giving a fake name for a second before he decides he really doesn’t care all that much if a random blind man from a New York in a whole different universe knows his name. “Richard Grayson. Or just Dick.”

Matt raises an eyebrow with a slightly amused smirk. “Dick?”

“Dick,” Dick nods seriously. “Dick Grayson.”

“Alright,  _ Dick _ Grayson,” The amused smirk doesn’t leave his face. 

“Get your jokes out now, I guarantee I’ve heard them all,” Dick rolls his eyes. “Trust me.”

“Oh, I believe you.”

Dick sighs heavily. “Yeah, yeah. But why me, anyways? Not that I’m… I dunno. Out of everybody in this room, you walked over to me. So… why?”

Matt stares in Dick’s general location, not necessarily looking right at him. He shrugs. “You just happened to be the first person I asked.”

“Fair enough…” Dick frowns. He wasn’t very used to people doing things just because. Maybe he was just so used to everyone having an ulterior motive that he was looking for one where there wasn’t any. 

Matt’s foot hits Dick’s backpack. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize that was there,” Matt apologizes. Dick shifts the backpack slightly.

“No harm done,” He shrugs. “There’s nothing too important in there anyways.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what  _ is _ in there?” Matt tilts his head, curious. Dick pauses. 

“Uh, nothing hugely important. A change of clothes, I guess? I… wasn’t expecting to come to New York. Fell asleep on the bus and woke up here,” Dick lies smoothly. The waitress sets down two cups of coffee on the table, one for each of them.

“Food will be here in a minute,” She smiles at them before turning back around. Dick blinks, but he pours in a bag of sugar before taking a sip. 

“If you aren’t from New York, where are you from?” Matt hums. 

“Uh. Gotham,” Dick shrugs. 

“Isn’t Gotham just another old nickname for New York City?” Matt tilts his head, and Dick blinks. 

“Is it? Well, uh, either way. I’m from Gotham, New _ Jersey _ .”

“Ah.”

It’s silent for a minute before Dick finally gives in and pulls out his phone. He dials up Barbara first. Or at least he tries. There doesn’t seem to be any network connection whatsoever, which  _ sucked _ . It also meant that Dick would have to figure out how to get connected to a satellite if he wanted to even  _ use _ the phone for anything other than a glorified flashlight. Which also sucked. 

When the food gets brought over, Dick doesn’t hesitate to dig in. He’s not sloppy either though. He looks through the pictures on his phone after a minute, a dark thought creeping into his skull. What if he never got to see the people in those pictures again? A photo of Damian with a smug look on his face as he holds up a sword. Tim with dark circles under his eyes as he looks up at the camera with a small smile. A picture of Jason flipping the camera off. A picture of Steph, Babs, and Cass all eating ice cream together. There’s one of Duke and Tim playing video games together. Another of Bruce watching Damian, Duke, and Cass playing a board game, Bruce’s brow scrunched in confusion as he looked at whatever it was they were playing. Then a whole slew of pictures from Kate’s wedding. Eventually he swallows, setting the phone aside. 

“So… Which part of New York is this, then?” Dick tilts his head slightly. He hadn’t exactly been paying attention.

“Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan,” Matt hums. 

“Right,” Dick nods slowly. He quietly finishes his food, then stands up. “Well, Matt, it’s been a pleasure to meet you, but I’ve got… I have a little brother who gets kind of, I dunno,  _ fussy _ when I’m not home when I said I’d be.”

It wasn’t necessarily a lie. He just… Had no idea how he was going to get home.

“Alright, goodbye, Dick,” Matt smiles at him, holding a hand out. Dick shakes it after a second. “Thank you for reading the menu to me.”

“Yeah, it was no problem, really,” Dick grabs his backpack, putting it over his shoulder. He heads up to the front counter, paying for the both of them before he heads out the door and back onto the streets. He huffs a little, shaking his head, and then heads off to the library to do a bit of research.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you it would be out soon ^-^ Anyways. Hope you liked it!


	3. The Diner, but Different

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The previous chapter, but in Matt's POV

Matt Murdock was walking towards his office. He was already a good fifteen minutes late, and really, he was just going to have to hope Foggy would forgive him. 

Something makes him pause, though. The man walking in front of him has a fairly rapid heartbeat, which wasn’t anything too strange, but what really made Matt frown is the sheer amount of weapons the guy seems to have on him. 

That’s why, when the man ducks into a diner a few minutes later, Matt follows. He waits a little bit, then listens a bit before walking up to the man, who was now sitting alone at a booth near the edge of the room. 

Matt clears his throat next to the man. He turns, blinking in surprise at the seeing Matt standing there. “Um… hi?”

“Hi,” Matt gives him a slight smile. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m afraid I was going to be coming here with a friend, but he had to cancel, and… I was wondering if I could sit with you? I’m blind and can’t read the menu by myself.”

The man blinks before he nods slowly. “Sure…? Uh. The seat in front of me is empty. At your four o’ clock.” 

Matt nods, sitting down with a silent sigh of relief over the fact that he hadn’t managed to embarrass himself too badly. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” The man looks down at the menu again. “So… Anything in particular you wanted?”

“I don’t know. Anything good on the menu at all?” Matt tilts his head slightly, listening to the man’s heartbeat. It was still rapid, but Matt didn’t think he planned on using any of those weapons hidden on his person and in his backpack. It was more… scared, if he had to guess. Although the man was fairly good at hiding it. 

Matt patiently listens to the man listing off the menu for him. He hears the waitress approaching their table, so he quickly makes his choice before the woman gets to her destination. She takes their orders, then spins back around and heads back for the kitchen. Matt turns his attention back to the man in front of him. 

“Matthew Murdock, or just Matt,” He hums in introduction. It takes the man in front of him a minute to answer.

“Matt,” There’s a slow nod. “I’m Richard Grayson. Or just Dick.”

Matt’s surprised to realize that the name was the man’s real one. He could tell from the way his heart sounded. He’d thought for sure Dick had been about to spout out John Doe, or something equally ridiculous.

Matt raises an eyebrow, giving the man a slightly amused smirk. “Dick?”

“Dick,” Dick nods seriously. “Dick Grayson.”

“Alright, Dick Grayson,” The amused smirk doesn’t leave his face as he ever so slightly tilts his head at the sound of someone entering the diner.

“Get your jokes out now, I guarantee I’ve heard them all. Trust me.”

“Oh, I believe you,” Matt hums. 

Dick sighs heavily. “Yeah, yeah. But why me, anyways? Not that I’m… I dunno. Out of everybody in this room, you walked over to me. So… why?”

Matt stares in Dick’s general location as he leans back in the seat, not necessarily looking right at him. He shrugs. “You just happened to be the first person I asked.”

“Fair enough…” Dick frowns, although he seemed lost in thought for a moment. Matt tilts his head slightly, noting that his backpack was on the floor. 

Matt kicks lightly at Dick’s backpack. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize that was there,” Matt apologizes. A lie. Dick shifts the backpack slightly then sits straight back up again.

“No harm done,” He shrugs. Matt catches the almost non-existent wince. He isn’t sure how he failed to notice earlier, but the man was injured. A wound on the shoulder, and another on his thigh. A bullet and stab wound, respectively, if Matt had to guess. They were fairly fresh, barely in the process of healing at all. “There’s nothing too important in there anyways.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what is in there?” Matt tilts his head, genuinely curious. He had a vague idea, but he was wondering what Dick would tell him.

“Uh, nothing hugely important. A change of clothes, I guess? I… wasn’t expecting to come to New York. Fell asleep on the bus and woke up here,” Dick lies fairly well, Matt will give him that, but he doesn’t manage or know to hide his racing heartbeat as he does it. At that exact moment, the waitress sets down two cups of coffee on the table, one for each of them.

“Food will be here in a minute,” She smiles at them before turning back around. Dick pours in a bag of sugar before taking a sip. 

“If you aren’t from New York, where are you from?” Matt hums, trying to milk this guy for any information he would give him. He did not trust the amount of weapons on this guy, and the more he pays attention, the less he likes any of this. Especially with the way this guy is sitting, and with the very way he breathes. He’s trained, and trained well. Matt can tell that much. 

“Uh. Gotham,” Dick shrugs. Again, not a lie. Although it is a slightly confusing answer, but really, there are a lot of cities across the world, and Matt can’t be expected to know each and every one of them by name.

“Isn’t Gotham just another old nickname for New York City?” Matt tilts his head.

“Is it? Well, uh, either way. I’m from Gotham, New Jersey.”

“Ah,” Matt hums once again. It falls quiet, although Matt hasn’t stopped paying attention. He sips at his coffee every once and a while. Dick brings out a cell phone. He doesn’t sound too happy with whatever news he’s just recieved, or at least Matt assumes it’s news. He sets the phone down when food is brought over though.

Dick eats fast. Matt, on the other hand, takes his time. As he does, he notices Dick pull out his phone again. Whatever is on the screen this time, Matt is getting depressed just from hearing Dick’s heartbeat from it. Matt rolls his eyes slightly.

“So… Which part of New York is this, then?” Dick asks after a minute, tilting his head a little to the left.

“Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan,” Matt huffs out, but he keeps his voice even.

“Right,” Dick nods slowly. He quietly finishes his food, then stands up. Matt briefly wonders just how it is that the man didn’t know where he was. “Well, Matt, it’s been a pleasure to meet you, but I’ve got… I have a little brother who gets kind of, I dunno, fussy when I’m not home when I said I’d be.”

“Alright, goodbye, Dick,” Matt smiles at him, not sensing any lies as he holds a hand out. Dick shakes it after a second. The man seemed to be an over thinker, in Matt’s opinion. “Thank you for reading the menu to me.”

“Yeah, it was no problem, really,” Dick grabs his backpack, putting it over his shoulder. He gives Matt a small nod before he heads back for the counter. Matt sighs when he realizes that Dick was paying for both of them. (He could pay for himself, thank you very much, but Dick was already gone before Matt could really argue). 

The man was definitely suspicious. Matt couldn’t quite place what, but at least he was fairly sure the guy wasn’t planning on going around and using them. The man didn’t have the heart of a killer, that much he could tell. 

He still had better be out of Hell’s Kitchen before nightfall.

By the time Matt finally gets back to the office, Foggy is about to have an aneurysm. 

“Matt!” Foggy snaps. “Where have you been?”

Matt sighs heavily, sitting down at his desk. “I had some Daredevil business to attend to.”

“Like what? It’s daylight!” 

Matt tells Foggy all about his new ‘friend’ Dick, and about how the man had enough weapons on his person to practically supply an army. 

“How does a guy even manage to hide that many guns?” Foggy raises an eyebrow.

“I didn’t say they were guns, I said they were weapons,” Matt shakes his head. “I couldn’t make out everything, but I could smell the chemicals. He definitely had bombs on him. Or at least the supplies to make some.”

Foggy winces slightly at that. “Yeah, okay. That does sound bad. But this is coming out of your lunch hour.”

Matt doesn’t argue with that, and the two of them get to work. They still had a law firm to run, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading :)


	4. Nightwinging It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick learns a few things about... everything.

Dick waits around Hell’s Kitchen for a while. After the diner, he spends some time at the park just sitting and enjoying the weather. It was actually somewhat sunny out here, which was an absolute rarity in both Gotham and Bludhaven. It was nice, even if there were a few clouds dotting the sky. 

Eventually, just sitting there became boring, and he leaves his backpack at the bench (but still in clear view) as he heads over to the monkey bars. He hadn’t done this in years, but really, he didn’t have much better to do, and it seemed that the few young kids that were at the park weren’t on them anyways. He ignores his injuries as he does so.

Dick boredly does a few flips along the monkey bars, standing on his hand at the top for a second before he does another flip again. He eventually pauses, noticing he’d gained a small audience of young kids who looked like they might be in preschool. He blinks, but he gives them a small smile and wave as he continues along. He finally ends his miniature performance with a flip and bow to the kids, who blink in awe before one of them hesitantly starts clapping.

Dick smiles slightly, then gives the kids one last wave before he picks up his backpack and leaves the park behind, continuing to walk through the streets of New York. He still didn’t want to waste money on a hotel, especially since he had no way to replenish that money currently. 

There was also the fact that Slade was still out there, somewhere. Unless he just so  _ happened _ to have another device and had been bluffing, but Dick sort of doubted it. That was going to be a problem, but he really couldn’t focus on that at this exact moment. He wishes Slade was his biggest problem. 

Dick could try… Getting a job. But to get a job he’d need legal papers, and to get those he’d need to find someone who could actually help him with that. Which was unlikely. Which meant he was going to be stuck sleeping on rooftops for the next foreseeable future. There were worse things that could have happened, in all honesty. 

Dick finds the library, finally. It had a fairly small sign on the front, and Dick could have  _ sworn _ he’d passed the building at least six times by now. He sighs, getting straight to work.

The place had computers, and that was the important thing. The only problem was that the computers required a library card. Dick huffs, heading to the front desk, where a librarian raises an eyebrow. Dick smiles politely. “Um, excuse me, but I’m from out of town, and I was just wondering if there was a way I could use the computer without having a card?”

The librarian blinks at him, but nods. They go over to the computer, typing in a code and then stepping back. 

“Thank you,” Dick adds as the librarian starts walking away. He sits down at the computer, cracking his knuckles.  _ Now _ it was time to get to work.

The first thing he looks up is, of course, Gotham City. He needed to know what he was dealing with and- 

The only results for Gotham City were definitely not relevant. Dick stares at the screen in slight disbelief before he quickly types in Bruce Wayne, and then the Flying Graysons, Batman and Robin, just Batman, just  _ Robin _ , Superman, Justice League, Joker, Injustice League, Owlman, Talon,  _ something, anything, nothing was working.  _

Dick sucks in a breath, trying to calm his racing heartbeat. Okay. This was fine. Everything was fine. Dick just… had no idea who to call for help now. Swallowing, Dick changes his approach. 

‘Superheroes.’

Several different articles pop up. Some group calling themselves the Avengers seemed to be the most prominent of the results. As Dick scrolls through the images, he sees a few photos of a red and blue clad hero who didn’t seem to be a part of this team. With a hum, Dick commits the name of the Avengers to memory. They might be of some use in actually getting home. 

They were all the way across the city, though, and as good as he is with jumping across rooftops, that was still a fairly long way to go with his still injured leg, even with ignoring the pain in it. He  _ could _ take a bus, but… Dick didn’t like that idea. 

Dick spends the next few hours here, doing as much research as he could on the library’s computer, before his stomach dutifully reminds him that it’s been a while since he last ate. With a heavy sigh, he logs off and steps away from the computer, giving a nod and smile to the librarian on his way out.

Dick simply buys a hot dog at a stand on the street. It was cheap, and he didn’t have to sit down to eat it. He gets a bottle of water to go with it, then continues down the streets, adjusting his backpack. It was getting closer to dark. Another hour or so and he would don the mask, but for now… 

Dick stops at the park once again. In terms of places to be that didn’t require any money to be there, the park was one of his best bets. He sits at a bench, finishing up the hot dog. He thinks it’s probably sunset, but he can’t quite tell with all the buildings around. He sighs, waiting just a little longer before he stands up and heads towards an alley. He glances around before he clambers up a fire escape. Once on the roof, he switches the civvies for his slightly torn and blood-covered suit, sticking the domino mask to his face. 

Dick scouts around the rooftops for no more than a few minutes before he hears something. It’s faint, but Dick’s ears have been trained to pick up the quiet scuffling of feet on rooftops. Most of his fine tuning came from Damian trying to sneak up on him while on patrol. The memory makes him smile briefly, but it quickly fades. 

“I know you’re there,” Dick turns around, escrima sticks at the ready. He wasn’t positive if this was Slade or not, but he couldn’t rule out the possibility. 

The man that steps out isn’t exactly who Dick is expecting. He’s wearing a deep red suit, with a cowl that has little horns on the top, and two interlocking D’s on his chest. In all honesty, it sort of reminds Dick of Bruce, minus the cape and with a lot more color. He gives Dick a quick, very light smirk, but it doesn’t stay for very long as he gets into a defensive stance. 

“What are you doing in Hell’s Kitchen?” The man in red asks. Dick thinks back to the research at the library, and Dick hums. Daredevil, if he had to take a guess. 

“Daredevil, right?” Dick voices that thought. 

“And you are?” Daredevil narrows his eyes. 

“Nightwing.”

“Nightwing. I’m going to ask you again, what are you doing in Hell’s Kitchen?” Daredevil growls out, stepping forward. Dick doesn’t like his tone, narrowing his eyes. 

“You know, I might’ve told you if you didn’t remind me of Batman so much.”

“Batman?” Daredevil questions, but he shakes his head slightly. “Doesn’t matter. Get out of my city before I force you out.”

Dick spins his escrima, frowning. He didn’t couldn’t decide if he liked this guy or not, but he  _ did _ remind him of Batman quite a bit. “You’re welcome to try.” 

Daredevil advances quickly, and Dick suddenly realizes that he might have made a mistake. The man was trained, and trained well. Not to say Dick wasn’t, but still . He pulls out some billy clubs, countering Dick’s escrima with them. 

Dick was completely grounded. He couldn’t get into the air with how close combat this was. Which, it wasn’t the end of the world, but Dick simply didn’t have the brute strength that Bruce or Jason would have had, and it was causing him some problems. 

Dick blocks a hit from the billy clubs with his escrima, and he tries getting a hit into Daredevil’s gut, but it’s unsuccessful. Dick tries to kick, but putting all of his weight on his injured leg proves to be a mistake as a flare of white hot pain strikes him, and that’s before he gets decked. 

The fight is, embarrassingly, quick. Dick tells himself he would have had a bit of a better chance if he would have had the chance to move, but the guy really was good, and his current injuries were not doing him any favors. The man seemed to be using them against him, too. Dick swallows when he’s thrown against a wall, a hand pushing against the bullet wound in his shoulder. 

“I’m going to ask again. What are you doing in Hell’s Kitchen?”

Dick huffs. “I don’t  _ want _ to be here, I assure you.”

That earns him being slammed against the wall again. “ _ What are you doing here?” _

Dick clenches his jaw in pain, but he refuses to show it. He grunts. “What do you want me to say?  _ I don’t want to be here, and I really didn’t mean to come here. _ ” 

“Then what are you still doing here?” 

Dick pauses, because what  _ was _ he still doing here? “Uhhh… Well. Let’s be honest. I don’t exactly have anywhere else  _ to _ go.”

“Well how about you go somewhere that isn’t  _ here _ ,” Daredevil lets go of him. Dick frowns. 

“Like where, huh?” Dick clenches his jaw, prepared to be attacked again. He wouldn’t put it past this guy. The man gains a deep frown, standing down. For now. 

“I don’t know, and I don’t care, but not here.”

Well that just made Dick want to stay more. He rolls his eyes. “I’ve got to find Slade, and I don’t want to get too far from here in case…”

“In case what?” Daredevil huffs.

“In case my family comes looking for me,” Dick grumbles. It was the same reason he hadn’t bought a ticket straight to Midtown to talk with the Avengers. If anyone from back home came looking for him, staying at least somewhat near the original point of arrival seemed to be the best plan, especially if they showed up in the exact same spot that he had. 

“Your family?”

“Yeah, my family. I have a  _ lot _ of siblings, thank you very much, and I can assure you, there are at least two who will not hesitate to kill you if you hurt me,” Dick glares. “Red Robin makes a possible three. I wouldn’t past him.”

Daredevil raises an eyebrow under his mask. It might not have been visible to most people, but Dick had been raised by a man in a cowl, and it was quite easy for him to tell. Dick sighs heavily. 

“I’m from another… dimension. Or universe. Something like that. I’m not actually sure, but I honestly don’t think it matters and-”

“No,” Daredevil scowls. “No. I am not dealing with that. Get out of Hell’s Kitchen and leave me alone.” 

“Technically, I would have left you alone if you hadn’t attacked me first,” Dick points out. “Besides, if I  _ leave _ , I might not be able to get back home.”

“Leave a note.”   
  


“It doesn’t work like that. I’m not sure who they’ll send to pick me up. For all I know, Green Lantern could show up! Which means I can’t just leave a note, because if you don’t know who to leave a note for, then it’s  _ pointless _ .” 

“Right…” Daredevil frowns at him. “Fine. Let’s make a compromise. You can stay in Hell’s Kitchen as long as you stay out of the suit.”

“What am I supposed to do?  _ Sleep? _ There is  _ so _ much more I could be doing right now,” Dick huffs out a half-hearted laugh, shaking his head. “Listen. If things go well, I should only be here a few days. And if they don’t, I’ll also only be here a few days. Either way, I’m going to be here a few days, and there’s nothing some guy in a red suit is gonna do about it.”

“Is that a challenge? Because I think we’ve both established how this would go in a fight,” Daredevil steps forward, fists raises again. Dick tenses, but he doesn’t go out of his way to start fighting again. 

“You stay out of my way, I stay out of yours,” Dick takes a step back to match, scowling. “Look, I get the whole vigilante territorialism, trust me, I used to live with Batman. But you’re not helping  _ anybody _ by forcing me to go somewhere else, and I am the  _ last _ person who wants to be stuck here, believe me. So just.  _ Stop _ . I have to stay here. If nobody is here after three days,  _ then _ I’ll get out of your city. But until then, I’m not leaving, and I’m not just going to sit here and pretend this is all some sort of vacation. I don’t get to have that choice.

“The second you put on a mask, you don’t get a choice,” Dick breathes out, glaring at Daredevil. 

“Well,  _ Nightwing _ , it’s either you stay out of the suit, or you leave. There is no third option.”

Dick frowns. He didn’t like that. He needed to be out in the suit, but he couldn’t just  _ leave _ , at least not yet. “I can’t-”

“You’re injured anyways,” Daredevil frowns. “Take the time to recover. Or don’t and leave Hell’s Kitchen. I don’t care. But those are your two options, and I’m not backing down on that.”

Dick slumps, sitting on the edge of the building. “Fine. I won’t go out in the suit.”

There were other things he could do. He didn’t  _ have _ to be out in his suit to fight crime. “...Do you know of any cold cases that the police have that I could try and figure out then? Something?”

Daredevil sighs heavily. “ _ Why?” _

“Because I’m stuck in another goddamn universe with nothing else to do, that’s why!” Dick groans, falling back against the cement of the rooftop. “If you’re not going to let me be in my suit, then I’m going to at least be doing  _ something _ .” 

“I don’t know of any,” Daredevil says after a minute. “But if you want to look, I won’t stop you from that. Don’t contaminate any evidence, and don’t get into any ongoing investigations. Cold cases only.  _ Got it?” _

“Fine, got it, cold cases only,” Dick sits up. 

“And don’t get into any trouble. I’ll be watching you,” Daredevil huffs. 

“I won’t get into any trouble,” Dick promises. “Trust me, I’ve been doing this for a long time. I’m not an amateur.”

Daredevil grunts, turning around. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

Dick sighs, watching him go. He hated Slade. He hated alternate universes. He hated… well. He missed being home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey thanks for reading! Sorry this chapter took forever to write lol. Also thank you guys for all your fantastic comments, they really mean a lot, and they definitely kept me going, so special shout out to all of you guys for being so awesome. I hope that all of you know that I do not have the attention span to proof read, and for that, I am terribly sorry for hooking you into this story. I guarantee I am spouting out nonsense and then being like "yeah this is fine" and then immediately publishing it. I don't even remember what all is in this chapter but I hope it's good. Anyways. Thank you guys for reading and for the kudos and comments! I'll work on getting that next chapter out ASAP!!!


	5. Progress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick does some things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long, I've got some personal stuff going on and didn't have any time to write. It's kind of short, but it's progress. :)

Dick manages to keep his promise. 

Relatively.

There had been a couple muggings he’d just so _happened_ to be at the right place at the right time for. But he hadn’t put on the suit, and he didn’t _actively_ seek out crime, which had been excruciatingly _hard_ , thank you, and he’d spent 95% of his time working on some cold case he’d found in the police’s files. 

Dick had also promised to only stay for three days. So, he waits until the very last minute before he decides to move on. Shouldering the backpack, he heads in the general direction of the Avengers. He still wasn’t positive about that. But it was a start, at least, and he would take anything he could get. If Bruce and the others weren't here by now, then it was probably going to take a while. Or Dick was going to have to find his own way back. Either way, staying in Hell’s Kitchen wasn’t going to be doing him any good anymore.

Dick makes another purchase of a hot dog. The stands were everywhere, and really, they were a quick and cheap investment. With a small huff, he heads towards where he knew the Avengers tower was going to be. He might as well get this over with. 

Getting to the tower was the easy part. Getting in was a whole different matter. He was fairly certain he couldn’t just knock and gain access to the building. Of course not. Because that would just be way too easy for the universe to allow. 

Dick slips on his Nightwing suit. He frowns at the holes in it, vaguely revealing the stitches in his side. He sucks in a sharp breath, aiming his grappling hook at the top of the building. He fires.

The windows weren’t actually _supposed_ to open, and made from bulletproof glass, which meant he probably wasn’t going to be able to just break through them. Lucky for Dick, part of bat training was high stakes window installation. He was in the building within a few minutes. 

The room Dick pops into seems to be storage. There’s a lot of boxes, and Dick is honestly surprised the room even has a window at all. It was a little strange, in his opinion at least, to have a window in a storage room. But he wasn’t going to complain. It _had_ made things easier for him. 

Dick slinks around the tower, avoiding cameras whenever possible, or using his third-favorite type of bat-a-rang to disrupt the frequency if there was absolutely no way he could get through without being in the camera’s view. 

Right as he throws another bat-a-rang, he’s suddenly tackled from behind. Somehow, he’s surprised, even if in his gut he’d known that this had been going unusually easy. Dick makes a grab for his escrima, gritting his teeth, but his hand is expertly pinned before he can manage to get it. He hisses in pain as said hand is twisted, nearly to the point of dislocation, but not _quite_. 

Dick struggles a little bit against the hold, but quickly finds it useless. 

“Who are you, and how did you get in here?” An accented woman’s voice asks him, her breath hot against the back of his neck where she’d whispered the question in his ear. 

“Nightwing,” He answers sharply, clenching his jaw. The woman twists his hand a little more, and it takes all of Dick’s effort to keep from making any noises of pain at it. 

“Who are you really?” 

What the hell, he didn’t exist here anyways. 

“Dick Grayson,” He grits out. “I don’t mean any harm, I just want to- to talk.”

It takes the woman a minute before she finally lets him go, and Dick is quick to get back to his feet, rubbing his wrist. He spins around, blinking at the woman. Red hair, could _definitely_ kick his ass… 

“You’re the Black Widow, I presume,” Dick hums, biting his lip slightly. She simply gives him a flat look. 

“You presume correctly.”

“Right…” Dick glances around, suddenly feeling a little awkward. He sucks in a breath. “See, the reason I came here is because… I’m kind of from another universe, and I’m stuck here, and I really need help getting home.”

Black Widow stares at him for a very long moment before she sighs.

“Follow me,” She turns around, heading back down the hall, and Dick does so. He glances around a little bit, but for the most part he keeps his gaze on the floor. The woman in front of him is walking with purpose, and just with a quick glance, Dick can tell she’s trained, and trained well. She almost reminds her of Cass, which reminds him of Stephanie, which reminds him of Tim, who reminds him of Jason, who reminds him of Barbara. None of them really remind him of Damian, but he figures if he’s reminded of the rest of his siblings, then that’s good enough of an excuse. Damian subsequently reminds him of Duke, and Dick starts thinking that if Jason could have his ‘Dead Robins Club’, then surely he could have a ‘D-Boys’ club with him Duke and Damian. It’s a short lived thought, though, as just as he thinks of it, Black Widow turns into a different room. 

There’s three men all sitting on the couch. All of them are blonde, and all of them look over at Dick with varying degrees of curiosity. Blondie #1 raises an eyebrow at him, then turns his gaze over to Widow. “Who’s this?” 

“I found him wandering around the tower,” Black Widow frowns. 

“I was wandering around the tower,” Dick repeats helpfully, giving Blondie #1 a sheepish grin. Blondie #2 just looks at him in confusion. 

“I do not understand how this answers the question.”

“It didn’t,” Dick shrugs. “I’m Nightwing.”

“Nightwing,” Blondie #1 nods sharply, standing up. “To what do we owe this pleasure?”

Dick pauses for a second before he sighs heavily. “Well, the thing is, I’m from another universe.”

“I’m sorry, are my hearing aids in right? Did you just say you were from another universe?” Blondie #3 stares at him, raising an eyebrow slowly. 

“That is exactly what I just said, yes,” Dick nods. “And I need some help getting home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry it took so long lol. But oh my god your guys' comments are so nice, thank you so much! They've honestly really helped me through a tough time. Every kudos and comment this story gets just makes me so, so incredibly happy and I'm so glad you guys have been enjoying this story.


	6. I Can't Think Of A Title and Have NO Excuse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint's concerned, but Steve is determined that this Nightwing guy should at least be given a chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full disclosure: I don't know too much about the Avengers and hope they turned out okay. I tried guys. I tried. 
> 
> In other news, sorry this chapter took so long!! It's short and sorta just a filler but I have had so much stress right now and haven't been able to write. Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things, but for now expect chapter updates to be kind of far and few between. Which is sad because I really do enjoy writing but I just have zero time right now, thank you guys for both the super sweet comments and for being so patient :)

“You really think we can trust this guy?” Clint asks, subtly nodding towards the man on the couch. 

Steve sighs. “I vote we at least  _ try _ to help him out. If worse comes to worse, I think the Avengers would be able to handle  _ one _ guy.” 

“Don’t underestimate him,” Nat hums. Steve raises an eyebrow at her.

“Are you saying you think this one guy will be able to take out all of us?”

“No,” She shakes her head. “I’m saying you should be careful. He’s trained, and trained well. I get the feeling he’d know better than to try and attack all of us at once.”

“So nobody stays in the room alone with the guy, got it,” Clint nods sharply. “Shouldn’t be too hard.” 

Thor glances over from his spot across from Nightwing. He was obviously saying  _ something _ to the man, but none of the others were paying attention to it. 

“Right,” Steve nods in agreement to Clint, who smiles just a little smugly. Steve glances back at Nightwing again. He didn’t trust him, but if the man really  _ was _ from another universe or dimension or whatever, then the Avengers would do everything in their power to get him home safely. 

“Where’s Bruce and Tony, shouldn’t they get a say in this?” Clint tilts his head to the left. 

“Tony heard the words ‘other dimension’ and got to work in the lab,” Steve rolls his eyes. “He dragged Bruce along with him to, and I quote, ‘help bounce ideas around’.”

Nat hums. “And what are we going to do with him in the meantime?”

“We have to keep him here, right?” Clint frowns a little. “I mean, you heard Nat. He’s dangerous.”

“He hasn’t done anything wrong,” Steve shakes his head. “Dangerous or not, we’re not going to lock him up just because he has the  _ potential _ to end up being an enemy in disguise. We help him get home, we offer him a place to stay, and that’s it. He’s an adult, he can make his own choices, we aren’t babysitters. If he  _ does _ do something to warrant that kind of treatment,  _ then _ we can take appropriate action. Understood?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Clint sighs. “I was just saying…”

“I get it, Clint, I do,” Steve nods sharply. “But he came to  _ us  _ for  _ help _ . It’s our duty to provide that help.”

“But how do we even know this guy is telling the truth?” Clint frowns a little. “I mean, I wanna believe he’s really who he says he is, but there’s always the chance that he’s not. What if he’s just having us build him a machine for his own nefarious purposes and we’re falling for it because we want to give him the benefit of the doubt!” 

Nat hums a little. “As much as I want to be on your side of this, Steve, I have to agree with Clint. We  _ don’t _ know who this man is. He very well could be setting us up.”

“Fine. Keep an eye on him if you feel like you need to, but if he wants to leave the tower for  _ any _ reason, he can. It’s not a prison and we aren’t wardens,” Steve sighs heavily, rubbing the bridge of his nose. 

Nat nods. 

“Seems reasonable enough…” Clint gives Nightwing another distrustful look. He turns his gaze back to Steve. “If this blows up in our faces, though, it’s  _ your _ fault.”

“Call it a gut feeling,” Steve hums. “But I kind of don’t think it will.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Next chapter is mostly written and should be here soon :)


End file.
